For when sane just isn’t good enough

Today’s insanity: night terrors and sleep paralysis

Have you even woken up in the middle of the night to find that you can’t move and have difficulty breathing, or seen strange and disturbing visions, but not been able to do anything? Or perhaps you’ve woken up to find some strange creature sitting on your chest, suffocating or strangling you? Or maybe you’ve woken up to find that someone is standing beside you and talking to you, but you can’t move or answer? If you answered yes to any of these, then you know what it’s like to experience either a night terror or sleep paralysis.

REM sleep is characterized by the eponymous rapid movement of the eyeballs, low muscle tone, and memorable dreaming. The brain ‘locks’ the body down during REM sleep, theoretically to stop the person from acting out their dreams.

NREM sleep generally comprises about 70% to 80% of our sleep time, but this varies between individuals. Very little actual dreaming takes place in NREM sleep, but hallucinations can occur (technically, hallucination refers to falsely perceived stimulation on any of the five senses, not just visual). NREM sleep is further split into four stages: stages 1 and 2, which are termed ‘light sleep’, and ‘deep sleep’ stages 3 and 4.

Sleep occurs of cycles of between 90 to 120 minutes, and follows a pattern that alternates between the four stages before finally falling into REM sleep. Many sleep disorders take place between NREM stages 3 and 4, but generally before the REM sleep stage of that particular cycle.

Night terrors

Night terrors generally occur in children between the ages of two and six inclusive, and occur wtihin one to four hours of falling asleep. Night terrors and nightmares are different from each other in that while you may remember a nightmare (which occurs in REM sleep), you seldom remember night terrors (because it’s taking place in the ‘deep sleep’ stages). The sufferers almost never know that they are having night terrors. This doesn’t mean that nobody recalls having them; this happens frequently enough too.

Night terrors last anything between 10 and 30 minutes, and are more terrifying for the people around the sufferer than they are for the person having the night terror, generally because the sufferer ‘wakes up’ screaming. Night terror sufferers who recall the event feel the emotion of fear without the usual visual, audio, or tactile stimulus that brings fear on. Because there is no stimulus, a person awakening from a night terror might feel disoriented, or in some cases, forgetful of details such as their names or where they are. Night terrors in children usually spontaneously disappears over time.

Night terrors occurs rarely in adults and children over the age of six. Adult night terrors are generally caused by some kind of trauma, occur almost nightly, and respond to psychiatric treatment.

Sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis occurs at any age, and happens shortly after waking up from REM sleep, but while the body is still locked down by the brain. Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by vivid hallucinations and a feeling of fear or dread brought on by the immobility and the hallucinations. It tends to last anything from several seconds to several minutes; the minutes can sometimes feel undending, according to some reports.

The key symptom of sleep paralysis is immobility, either after waking up, or less commonly, before falling asleep. The paralysis means that the sufferer can’t move, speak, or control their body in any way.

The difference, as you undoubtedly would have noticed, between night terrors and sleep paralysis is the stage of sleep in which they occur: night terrors happen in NREM sleep while sleep paralysis occurs in REM sleep, and this generally determines whether you’ll remember the event, or experience the hallucinations.

The hallucinations that occur during sleep paralysis include, among other things: a beast resting on your chest, voices, the feeling of being touched by insects or “creepy crawly feelings”, strange smells, visions or strange and terrifying places, and strange tastes.

Studies have shown that the majority of people will experience a sleep paralysis event at least once or twice in their lives, so look forward to it!

Hypnogoia

A related state is hypnogogia, or sleep wakefulness, and frequently occurs in the transition state between being awake and being asleep. Hypnogogia is characterized by vivid hallucinations (on all five senses), and a sense of dreaming while being fully or partially awake. Hypnogogia is normal to most people, and people who experience hypnogogia often know that they’re hallucinating. You’ll know you’ve experience hypnogogia if you’ve ever experienced an annoying jerk (called the hypnic jerk or myoclonic twitch) just before falling asleep and requiring time to become drowsy and fall asleep again.

Hypnogogia has been attributed to the feeling of being abducted by aliens (due to the intense, believable hallucinations), visions of apparitions, and visions of shadow people. Knowing this doesn’t make the experience any less terrifying, however!

What causes it?

Both night terrors and sleep paralysis are poorly understood by scientists, and studies continue in this field, but narcolepsy seems to have a role in both disorders. Sleep paralysis can be caused by irregular sleep, sleep deprivation, and an increase in stress. Research has shown a strong genetic link to sufferers of night terrors, so if you have it, you might want to ask your parents if one of them had it too.

Dealing with it

Recognize that you have a sleep disorder and that nothing supernatural is happening. Understand that it affects each person uniquely. Also, getting in touch with other sufferers may help mitigate the feeling of loneliness and dread, and get you to understand that other people also experience these sleep disorders.

Keep a log or journal of your experiences, especially if the events recur. This will help you understand what you’re experiences, and maybe see patterns that you wouldn’t otherwise see. IN the log, keep track of what position you fell asleep in, details of any hallucinations, times, and dates.

Try to figure out what causes your sleep disorder. If it’s irregular or lack of sleep, try to get more sleep or set definite sleeping and waking times. If it’s stress, try to figure out how to reduce the effect it has on your sleep patterns. Try exercise and healthy eating, and try to avoid coffee (which has been known to cause nightmares at the least).

Tell someone; just the act of talking about the experience can help you deal with it. If you sleep with a partner, get them to understand the symptoms of night terrors or sleep paralysis, and that they can help you break free of it.

If you’re at a loss otherwise, you could always post a comment here and let us here at Utter Insanity know about it!

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22 Responses

I have yet to read, but I would like to straight away thank Fayyaad for this information as (not trying to take credit😛 ) I experienced a very strange experience last night – which thanks to my wife I seemed to battle through.

I was dreaming a regular dream which I can’t remember, then suddenly my dream appeared like those tv screen you see in movies where the picture is interfered with many other images, but in dream land this meant emotions and sense of feelings also.

I woke up, still in a sleepy state drifting in and out of sleep having awful trouble determining reality with my sub-conconious. I screamed to Ethné but I am unsure she heard, but I do remember that she was woken up by my violent shivering… it was so cold, yet I was not cold to the touch. She quickly got me a hot water bottle and I held onto it tighly, but then seconds later it felt as though it was burning my flesh, as if it had begun to melt and was now in my skin. The pain was horrific, then it stopped suddenly and then I could no longer feel the bottle in my arms.

I couldn’t move properly, jerky movements and as I feel in and out of sleep I started to cry suddenly, then stopped just as quick and fear struck me. I felt as if other things were coming for me, and some of them were already in the room.

At this stage dream and real world were flicking on and off very fast and briefly I could see things in the room coming at me. Then I could feel them all over me poking and proding me.

So many times in my state I tried to call out or wake myself up fully, then when I thought I had woken realised that I was still asleep. Through this my marvelous wife was rubbing my arm telling me it was ok. Then I began jerking like I was having a seizure – but this, and the only time I was awake.

So, last night had to be the most unsettling and awful sleeps I have ever had next to the first fit I ever had. Hope this wasn’t to much information for you all, but I thought I would like you to understand why our local Dr. Fayyaad the brain man with degrees in shrink decided to write this – will read now😀

I’ve had sleep paralysis before. Not recently but years ago when I was a teen and it freaked me out. Funny you say that people should talk about it – I had these on and off for months and never mentioned it to anyone. But ’til now when I go to bed, I try to make sure at least some part of my body is touching the person next to me, just in case something tries to “get me”, you know? Weird…

Joe, your dream sounds very disturbing. It seems to have some of the markings of a “night terror” but at the same time is different. For one thing, you aren’t aged 2 to 6.😛 Also, though you had the audio, visual, and tactile stimulus, you were aware of what was happening and also remembered it afterwards. I don’t know if any of us can say what’s caused it but maybe now you’ve talked it out, you can stave it off. Like if it happens, and you have that same feeling of consciousness, you can try to ride it out. Or tell Ethné to dunk some cold water on you next time she notices this happening.😉

I had some of these when I was about 10 or 11 years old, though not with creatures or anything. I would wake up in the morning and be absolutely paralysed, ie. can’t move my legs, hands, mouth, nothing (I could move my eyes though, funny that).

At first I would just let myself fall asleep again and then wake up normally.

But later on I discovered that I could force myself to breath heavily, very heavily for a couple of seconds, starting out slowly and then going faster and faster (yes, it would sound suspicious if there was anyone there). Then I would snap out of it and could move freely again.

It worked every time (about 5-6 times). So, it might work for someone else if it happens.

I feel like I could go on forever about this, so I’ll try to keep it short(er than I’d like to). I’ve been getting both hypnogogia and sleep paralysis (often in conjunction) for about 17 years. I’m pretty sure its never going to go away, as I’ve gotten them regardless of my sleep schedule for a large part of my life.

What I find upsetting is that a few years ago the regular fear of the dreams themselves turned into a fear of actually dying in my sleep. So that, in other words, when I know I’m falling asleep and entering that state, I actually become afraid and convinced that I’m dying but simply think I’m sleeping. This makes me panic to the point of having to wake myself up, which almost always feels awful, as my body clearly (upon waking) does not want me to be awake.

In addition- and this is just random– I’m curious as to why the auditory hallucinations that were always the hallmark of these dreams when I was younger pretty much vanished. I still know when they’re about to happen, but I don’t hear so many loud noises and such.

Finally, I will say that when I was younger I tried to approach these dreams ‘openly’ as they came on, as to see if I could stop them from becoming nightmares. This absolutely did not work. Toward the end of one I had a peaceful experience, but I’ve yet to have any of these turn ‘pleasant’ simply by embracing them– which makes me wonder if you are correct about the fact that they may be a physical response to stress (blood sugar, sleep– something) rather than simply an anomoly of the sleeping mind.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate your posting/insight on this topic.

I have been having them for around 2 years now, they are quite frequent, maybe once every 2 months. At first i believed that it was something to do with my old house, because the previous owner had died. Yet when we moved away it happened again. I go to sleep, sometimes downstairs or upstairs and start feeling kinfd of painless, but strong pins and needles in my upper chest and neck. I am in a dosy state at this stage. The second or third time this happened, i am thinking to myself, no please dont happen again! I hated the feeling of into being able to move! Then I tried to open my eyes, but it felt so hard and much of an effort. I remember then feeling nothing but when i tried to move i could not. Yet there seemed no force holding me down, just my body would not respond. After this i think i may have fallen asleep or given up trying to move. Later i feel great pressure on my ribs like there is someone straddling me, its suffocating, but not to the point that i cannot breathe. In my drousy state, i try to call out, yet it is normal for people having dreams to not be able to speak or cry out. Yet i try to resist, and move yet i am still paralysed. I then have no recollection of anything more than waking up in the early hours of the morning, sweaty and drousy. Has anyone else had a similiar experience? Please share, because i dont want to feel alone?May i point out that i have never been drunk during one of these experiences, as my parents seem to think i am! They do not believe me!

Sounds like a standard attack of sleep paralysis, and nothing to do with where you’re staying, or even alcohol. Check the list about dealing with it, and try to figure out what’s causing it. If you’re stressed, try to deal with the root cause of the stress and see if that doesn’t help. Thanks for sharing your experience!

I suffered from night terrors as a child, however I do remember them. I would scream so loud that it used to terrify my parents and sister. When I opened my eyes, all I would see was a black/brown swirling mist. My mother used to throw water on me to make me stop but it never seemed to work. I was terrified and felt like I had lossed vision. All that I could see was this swirling mist. It felt like it lasted forever. I was unable to describe the vision to my parents or sister and too choked up and sobbing to talk when the vision would end. If I remember correctly, I think they started when I was about 5 and ended when I was around 8.

well one day i went 2 sleep then around midnight i suddenly work up and felt something aprouching my bed then i felt something pinning me to my bed as if it was hitting but it didnt hurt i couldnt move talk i tried to scream then after a few minutes it stopped, i then ran to my sister’s room and slept in there. Ever since i pray and sleep with a bible under my pillow if i forget to pray or put the bible it happens but it hasnt happened for a while i still feel the presence but i can move and talk it just like it cant touch me or do anything

Last week, I was in between sleeping & awake ..I was dozing off, this is when it seems to happen. However, my mom was sleeping next to me, as I’m visiting her in Florida, I felt an arm-like touch/pull – pulling me from the side of the bed, it touched me on my stomach I was laying on my side and it was either pulling me off the bed or flatening me on my back/ turning me so my back wouldn’t face them. My eyes were open, as I was looking at my moms face & unable to scream but I was trying to scream MOM , my mouth could move but nothing came out. It kept tugging lightly but enough to pull me.

When it was over, I woke my mom put my back against her chest n went to sleep.

Last night, I was unable to sleep, and slightly dozing off I was really alert. Something/someone touched my face with both hands- one hand on each side of my face, again from the same side of the bed. I’m convinced this is absolutely something spiritual and or supernatural. If this continues, I don’t know what I will do. I also learned someone had past away in their sleep from “nightmares”, more specifically, being strangled in a nightmare. I’m very uneasy of this entire situation, and I’m 23 years old, I seem to be awake, and its coming from the same part of the room, the same light touch. Any suggestions?

I have been dealing with sleep paralysis for about 4 years, i thought it was over as i went a year without them but now i am having them again, they happen anywhere from 2-3 a week to once every 3 months. I would also like to know if it is normal to have multiple ones a night as last night every time i broke out of one and tried to return to sleep i got stuck in another one as soon as i started to doze off…. anyway other than that i usually get out of mine by a constant retaliation against it i keep trying to move/talk every way but i had never had a hallucination till last night, i was trying to get out of it and i sleep facing the wall with the t.v. on it. Anyway while doing this i heard the door open and footsteps coming into my house, i sleep in the living room usually so i am very close to the door, anyway i then heard someone say “just bash his head in and lets get on with this” needless to say i started panicking in every possible way, i tried to scream but couldnt i tried to move and get up and couldnt for a good while after the voice, my life even started to flash before my eyes and i was convinced i was about to be killed by 2 burgulars, as chance would have it the paralysis finally stopped and i spun around to face the attackers…. and nothing at all was there

anyway until now i just put up with it but that freaked me out so much i decided to see if i could find out what exactly was happening to me. thank you for writing this article it has helped a HUGE amount.

I recently have been under a lot of stress, i believe last night i must have experienced a combination of a panic attack that woke me up, and perhaps sleep paralysis.. it was terrible. for anyone thats had a panic attack thats bad enough, especially waking up from one, then to wake up halfway, not being able to move, while your eyes are twitching all rapidly.. it was just horrible. everytime i tried to go back to sleep i was getting a similar feeling..it was incredibly hard to explain what was going on, but i was so tired..

anyone had similar experiences? i still feel awful today, my assumption is that im tired from lack of sleep, my sinuses are draining me too, and that i have a lot of aftershock anxiety.. hopefully this goes away, im tryin to get my refill of xanax today.

I have sleep paralysis about twice a week. Usually it’s just annoying. It’s like, “ok… here it goes again… I guess I just have to wait until I can move.” But sometimes I see shadows or feel like someone (who I can’t see) is staring at me or watching me sleep. It’s weird. And I’m afraid to try and wiggle my toes to wake myself up because I’m afraid this person or thing is not going to like it. I also almost always hear white noise. It’s like pulsating white noise. Sometimes I feel like I’m levitating, and sometimes I feel like I’m being sucked into my bed. Anyway… it’s weird.

David: That sounds a bit like sleep paralysis. I know mine gets worse when I’m stressed, over tired, or have a change in sleep patterns. When I’m about to go into sleep paralysis, I can feel it coming on. I have to shake myself out of it before it completely sets on. It’s weird. The fact that you were anxious, and could only move your eyes is what makes me think it was sleep paralysis.

I have sleep terrors every night and I am scared of sleeping .I am 20 years old. I wake up every night at 4 am screaming and crying. I have dreams within dreams so sometimes when I die in a dream I don’t wake up, I am just dead in the outer dream. My father has night terrors until today, and I might be suffering from depression. My dad has traces of schizophrenia and bipolarity. I have constant suicidal thoughts of throwing myself from my 48th floor balcony right before I go to dead. I am the happiest when I wake up because I won’t have to sleep anymore. I had count on my hand the times a hand a good dream since I was a little. Do I have a mental disorder? What should I do?

MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This would take for ever but I think not everyone is actually having a mental condition take it or leave it my story i could go in life details but it would take for ever and i speak french so don`t judge my spelling please. Do you believe in supernatural beings? if not stop reading. if anyone want to take it to another level of truth just come and give me a lie detector test anytime! i`m not lying!
Here is what i think is going on! I think all terrifying things you see are just shapeshifter aliens creature changing there look to feed on your fear. Some call it shadowpeople, demons, the rake , slenderman and odly more people see those creature with the similar discriptions. I think we do see them more because they know it would scare the shit out of us. I mean for a long time i thought my childhood house was haunted so did my dad and brother and dogs barking at the hallway.Only my mom would think we are crazy. (do you ever notice it`s always the one open to paranormal that have those experiences and not the non believers..? maybe because there to hard to scare so there not worth there time who knows) In the end i think people give it the name of demons while it`s just a mean alien. i know i sound crazy…. but anyways why say bullshit to night terrors and paralyses cause i had them a lot in my life. Thinking that i was so scare that i was just seeing things. Different creatures of fear even the fuck up little girl in the ring infront of my bed for a least 5 min. Then things in the house was weirder and happening infront of other people them me so it became a different story for me and my family that theres spirits in the house so it was in a way not that scary when your use to it knowing they never hurt us no big deal just fucken anoying. the more we care less the more it started to stop happening. but once in awhile it was terrifying things happening at night of course when it`s more fucken scary the way they like it we are more chicken shits around 3 in the morning. well the creepiest thing kept happening around 3:45 am. while the house was more calm with time i still had night terrors and waking up to breathing on my neck , hearing sounds. I just tough that maybe stupid spirits or my fear was so big that it felt real. Once i was older i moved away and things were calm in my new place just had to deal with lucid nightmare but it feel way better then terrors. of never knowing if i`m crazy. Then after awhile me and my ex separated so i moved back at my parents untill i find a new place for myself. so then the scary stuff was happening everynight again. So being older i didn`t panic and let the sound and breathing in my neck thinking i`m just fucken crazy just sleep. Then here is the part that changed my life forever. So i`m a smoker and we have to smoke outside. It was around 4 in the morning kept having the feeling of being watch so being tired of being a baby that can`t sleep i decided fuck this i`m staying up so naturally i went for a smoke on the porch even if i was scared a bit it comes to a point you tell yourself that you have to fight your fear because all of this bullshit it not real! So i went on the back porch open the light lite my smoke. I felt a bit tense since we live in a wood area with the neighbors living far enough from us, close to a quiet highway.with wild animals so i`m a bit scared of wolfs so i`m on my guards a bit. but then suddenly i feel intense fear coming up inside me and felt watch! i turn my head exactly where that watch feeling came from. I see two big red orange spot light between trees. So before being stupid i`m thinking ok maybe it`s just lights from the neighbors house going through the trees. So I start to walk closer a bit to take a better look. Then the CREATURE did you know, the peeking movement behind the tree! I panic ! i just said outloud HOLY FUCK!? WTF? the creature give me the scare of my life it got up i guess the eyes where up about 8ft tall i would discrib the creature,, it turn to run over the little hill all i could hear it branches cracking will it`s going up, it starting running on the side of the road comming close to my parents house all i saw was 2 big orange red eyes going up and down on a skinny creature with long arms and long fingers and long legs it did a weird sound or scream i guess, it ran on four to be honest it looked like the rake or skinnywalker alien thing but while it ran it kept looking at me it was looking like it was about to turn in my parents entrance driveway all this felt so slow but it was fast my adrenaline was the highess i ever experience in my hole life even more then when i had my car accident, it scare the shit out of me it`s like it made shure that i would be left scared from it. anyways. I turn around try my fastest to go in the house! the fucken old porch door wouldn`t just fucken slide it would jam like usual. While i`m trying to calm down and open the door i turn my head to make shure it`s not close to me and now it`s for shure coming in the driveway i finaly got in and looked the patio door and ran to make shure the front door is locked witch took a lot of courage trust me! but when i look throught the window it was not there! thank GOD! i just wanted to cry but i could not for some reason. So i ran to my parents room, woke up my dad and said ok i know i sound fucken crazy but there was a fucken scary creature outside the ran in the driveway but now i don`t see it! my dad laughs and say calm down it`s probably just a moose, i try to explain more but my dad thinks it`s just an animal. Sorry but mooses don`t look like that and donT have huge fucken glowing eyes and are not 8 ft tall with a long fingers with a fucked up scream, but anyways this day made me realize like holy fuck why did this thing felt familiar and all this time i felt watch there was actually a fucken alien around. And i was not having a nightmare my dad heard me go outside and remember me waking him up for it and then he finally know why i was running in the middle of the night that is why he laugh thinking i got scarred over a moose. This is truth no one believes me accept some people but i mean it is fucken hard to believe. what i hate about this doh i wish i still thought it was nightmares then seeing a real creepy creature. to be honest i think it spend his life scaring the crap out of me in different forms. there so much more things i could talk about why it all fits together. I`ve been searching for years about what i saw they have alot of creature and story that are similiar and how the person feels when they see it. So fuck you with your sleep paralys making you see fake demons fuck you!
i never slept so it can`t be a nightmare ok! i didnt see it in my bed ! i was outside smoking switch the next day i picked up the smoke on the porch that i just threw when i tried to get in the house. so there is no way i`m crazy!
This change everything in my life. All we life is a lie. the world is full of secrets that is kept from us. ive been researching for years about creature , aliens, demons, it all collides.

That in-between state between sleep/awake… I often open my eyes while I’m still asleep. Hard to explain — its like waking up really slowly, it takes like 2~3 minutes but those few minutes feel like a lifetime. I can see everything in front of me but its all wavy, drowsy. Sometimes I fall right back asleep and sometimes I linger there and when I do… Weird things happen. The fact that it happens at all, if it isn’t something supernatural then why in the world don’t I ever have non-creepy experiences? Some weird looking Indian guy that looks like Jesus except it’s clearly not Jesus, he looks like an Indian man with long hair, like a guru or something. It *feels* sinister and I wake up uneasy. It always feels sinister. What I fear most now is that when this first started to happen I was aware of it, I’d wake up and sit there feeling creeped out. Now I think it’s happening except I don’t remember it at all, no memory. No recollection of the dream. I say this because throughout the day I’ll have weird deja vu moments, random goosebumps when I see something like I dreamed it. I feel like a psychic except it’s completely useless to me because it’s all random and Idk what any of it means.

I used to have problems sleeping so I figured out how to do it on command.
Lay down and tell yourself “I am going to sleep now, when I find the gray tunnel I will instantly fall asleep..”

Close your eyes and look for that tunnel, gray/black tunnel. We’ve all seen it, you know what I’m talking about — as soon as you see it you’ll be out. Do this for about a month and it’ll become really easy to fall asleep, as soon as you tell yourself that (command your mind to sleep when finding the tunnel) it becomes almost immediate, like a switch, I no longer even see the tunnel or black-hole or w/e it is.

I think I’m falling into that hole, it isn’t your normal dream-state, it’s something different and it isn’t lucid dreaming either, it’s deeper. By looking for that tunnel/hole you go much deeper into the mind and when you come back it is much harder to hold on to all the pieces of what you experienced, it is impossible to explain what I mean by this because it feels realer than being awake, everything gets inverted. The problem now is I can’t fall asleep the normal way anymore, the moment I lay down I have already made up my mind to go to sleep so it is automatic. Idk how to reset it, I have always had problems falling asleep so…

The flood of information I receive when I’m in this state — Idk if supernatural is the right word but the *content* of the information is definitely something occult. Something whispered to me how to perform sigil magick without pen/paper. Be very careful what you read because some books shouldn’t be opened. Ever. I remember being stuck in the half awake state and something was communicating with me, I can’t speak or do anything, it feels like paralysis or hypnosis. Steering me at a subconscious level, I’ve seen what can only be a demon after I tried to read the bible in an attempt to make this all stop. The very same night it happened. A creature that had the body of a jackal, black with yellow stripes and it had jaws like a small alligator, like a canine had its whole face stretched out over a foot long. Attached to my back with my neck in it’s mouth speaking to me without actually speaking, taunting me. I’ll never let you go.

In a normal dream state you have control, the landscape and characters are from *YOUR* mind. Through that tunnel you do not have any control, Idk wtf is happening. All I know is I haven’t slept in days now and every couple hours I hear slow breathing in my room when there is nothing there. Slow, deep breathing as if there is something enormous, huge lungs. As soon as I hear it and try to locate it it stops.